Holiday Lodge Appeals Dismissed After Long-Running Planning Fight

Richard Buxton Solicitors acted for a local resident in a long-running planning dispute concerning the unauthorised development of holiday lodges at Ty’n Terfyn Caravan Site, Tal-y-Bont, Conwy.

The site had historically operated as a touring caravan park under a 1983 planning permission. In 2018, planning permission was granted for the siting of 15 “holiday studios”, which were considered caravans in planning terms. Through a judicial review, we successfully challenged a subsequent permission allowing significantly larger lodge-style accommodation, resulting in the permission being quashed by consent by the High Court. The Court confirmed that the original 2018 permission was not an unrestricted permission for larger static holiday lodges.

Despite the Court Order the developer disregarded the Court proceedings and pressed on with development works and applied for retrospective planning permission for 15 holiday lodges. Following refusal by Conwy County Borough Council, the developer appealed both the refusal of planning permission and an enforcement notice requiring removal of the unauthorised development.

We represented our client throughout the planning and appeal process, instructing Ben Fullbrook of Landmark Chambers. A central legal argument was that the original 2018 permission could no longer operate as a lawful fallback position because the site had undergone a material change of use, due to the developer’s attempts to build lodges rather than the studios. We argued that any assessment of the lodge development had to therefore be undertaken without the studio consent as a fallback baseline decision.

In a decision letter dated 14 September 2026, the Planning Inspector agreed that the previous permission could not be treated as a lawful fallback because reverting from the lodge use to the earlier holiday studio use would, itself, require planning permission. The Inspector also agreed that the proposal failed to satisfy the requirements of the Local Development Plan.

Both the planning appeal and the enforcement appeal were dismissed, with the enforcement notice upheld.

This important result brings to an end a lengthy dispute concerning development in a sensitive countryside location and reflects our client’s steadfast commitment to protecting the local environment and ensuring that planning controls were properly applied.

With sadness we remember Mr. Collins who passed away a few months before the decision was issued as it was his determination and commitment to protecting his local area which was central to this successful outcome.